Careers - Graduate School
Some students may choose professional Masters' degrees that have specific career applications such as the MBA (Master of Business Administration) or the MSW (Master of Social Work). A PhD in English prepares you for teaching at a university level and takes approximately 10 years to complete. Most graduate programs are rigorous, costly, and require a great deal of dedication, so aren’t a good “fallback” choice if you are uncertain of where you are headed when you graduate.
Getting a graduate degree in English Literature is very different from graduating from UMass as an English major. It requires an intense and often grueling commitment to scholarship, research, writing, teaching, and learning. Should you pursue the career of English professor, you will likely have to sacrifice certain freedoms. You may not be able to choose where you live and raise a family. You probably won't strike it rich. But you will also spend your life pursuing knowledge and collaborating with your colleagues and your students in wonderful, world-changing ways. This can be its own reward. But “loving books” and “being a good writer” are not reasons to go to graduate school in literature. This is not, in other words, a decision you should make lightly, or a path to pursue as a stop-gap measure until you figure out what you “really” want to do.
The Master's degree tends toward professional development although some pursue an M.A. en route to the PhD. It takes on average 1-2 years to complete and involves more lengthy essays and usually culminates in a Master’s thesis. But there is little financial assistance available at the Masters level and it is usually very expensive to get one. Some students interested in teaching at a university level start off with the Masters to get a better sense if graduate school is right for them and to establish a distinguished graduate record when they apply to competitive PhD programs.
Teaching at a university level usually requires a PhD. Most programs expect students to complete the PhD in six to eight years: three years of coursework and three to five years researching and writing the dissertation. For many students, however, it takes even longer, particularly if there are competing demands, such as raising a family, or full- or even part-time employment. At a minimum, a PhD involves choosing a specialization within your field of interest, coming up with an original research project, writing a 250-400 page dissertation on that subject, and defending the dissertation before a panel of professors.
Many programs also require extensive written and/or oral examinations testing your comprehensive familiarity with the scholarship within your field. Financial assistance is often available in the form of a tuition waiver and stipend for teaching, so you will most likely be teaching one to two classes per semester. Unfortunately, getting a PhD in English is no guarantee that you will be hired as a professor, so a realistic view of a tight job market should be a part of your decision making. Please be aware that PhD programs are exceptionally competitive and typically successful applicants have a 3.7 or higher major GPA and an overall high GPA. If your GPA is less competitive, you may want to consider applying to MA programs en route to the PhD if you are exceptionally motivated to teach at a University level.
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Think of your undergraduate education as preparation for graduate school. Work hard and challenge yourself in your English classes, bearing in mind that other courses are important too and factor into your overall GPA. Take as many English classes in your area of interest as your time and schedule will permit.
Return to Careers home page: http://www.umass.edu/english/undergraduate/careers.html